Be My Valentine
by EllaQueenB
Summary: It's our fav couples first Valentines together and Tonks is left feeling a little confused by Remus' gifts. Set OOTP ONE-SHOT


DISCLAIMER: - Anything you recognise is not mine but belongs to JK Rowling and her associates

A/N: Okay I know that this is a little late for Valentine's Day but I only just found time to write it. For all the readers of my other story, There's Something About Remus, I promise that I'll update soon but this story just wouldn't leave me alone.

So please enjoy!

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**Be My Valentine**

On the morning of February 14th, Nymphadora Tonks awoke with love in her heart, a smile on her face and cold feet. Not the nervous, apprehensive sort of cold feet you get before a big event but the kind you get when you fail to wear socks to bed and kick the covers off during the night. She hadn't thought to wear socks to bed because after all it was mid-February and winter was coming to an end, but Grimmauld Place was exactly as its name suggested and stayed cold and bitter no matter what the season was.

Now usually waking up with icy feet after the alarm would ruin her peaceful rest and put her in a horrid mood but today was a special day and she was determined that nothing, not even this _Grim Old Place_, would break her spirit or ruin her day. She shimmied a little so that her red, heart covered doona, which was bunched around her thighs, slid down to cover her ankles before pulling her legs to her chest and curling up in the foetal position on her side. She let out a rather loud groan of pleasure as her frozen tootsies were warmed by her own body heat and a large smile once again graced her features. Today was going to be a good day, she just knew it.

You see today was Valentine's Day and whilst in previous years this meant waking up in a bad mood which progressively worsened as the happy couples around her gushed over one another, this year was going to be different. This year, for the first time ever, she was one of the deliriously happy couples and actually had someone to share the romantic holiday with instead of spending it being ostracised for her single status.

Despite a rocky start to the romance, she'd enjoyed every day of the past 6 months with Remus Lupin and today was the icing on the cake. Now Tonks wasn't a foolish witch, nor was she deluded, she knew not to expect too much from Remus today in the way of presents. She knew that he didn't have money to waste on extravagant gifts since he was still having a hard job obtaining employment, thanks mostly to Umbridge's fascist laws, but he had promised to cook her a romantic dinner tonight and that was enough for her. She'd tried to re-assure him of this last night as they snuggled together in post-coital bliss and he'd pretended to believe her when she said that spending time with him was all she wanted on the most romantic day of the year.

Suddenly the bright smile on Tonks' face dimmed a little and, as she fought off her early-morning-sleep-addled brain, she realised that something wasn't right. Last night she'd fallen asleep in the arms of her lover and as she opened her eyes to the harsh reality of the morning light, she discovered that she was no longer surrounded by that protective embrace. Her smile drooped and the happy glint in her eyes faded as a frown made its way onto her delicate features, her bottom lip jutting out in a pout.

This was her first real Valentine's Day and she'd wanted it to go perfect but today hadn't started out right at all. She'd originally hoped to wake up in Remus' arms so that she could wish him Happy Valentine's Day in a rather intimate manner; instead she reached her arm out to find his side of the bed made up and cold. Not the perfect start to V-Day at all.

Tonks rubbed her sleepy eyes before she hauled herself up so she was sitting on the mattress. She let out a loud yawn as she stretched her arms wide, and that's when it finally caught her attention. There on Remus' pillow, right where his head should have been, lay a single, long-stemmed red rose. She let out a giddy breath of laughter as she languidly reached over and grasped the delicate blossom before bringing it to her face and inhaling its unique scent. Her boyfriend may not be able to afford expensive gifts but he could as hell conjure a beautiful rose, even if it would only last 24 hours.

As Tonks examined her newly acquired present, she noticed a vivid red card attached half way down the stem. She turned the rose gently in her fingers so that she could read the writing, her full wattage smile broadening slightly before her forehead wrinkled in confusion. In the top left-hand corner of the a card lay a heart emblazoned in gold ink, the letters NT and RL printed inside it, but instead of blissful words of love or even sappy words of poetry, the rest of the card only contained a single stroke penned in black ink in the center.

Tonks flipped the card over, figuring the message must be on the other side, but was surprised to find it blank as well. Her gaze shifted from the mysterious stroke on the red card to her alarm clock as she figured that if she took a quick shower and got ready now, she would have just enough time to question Remus about the card at breakfast before leaving to work on time. Being late today was not an option, her boss was single and most likely in a bad mood, excuses to do with red-roses and mysterious cards would not go down well.

Tonks reluctantly climbed out of the warmth of her bed before throwing on her red robe and padding towards her bathroom. She turned the water's heat to high before shrugging off her robe and quickly jumping beneath the warm soothing jets. As she lathered herself in berry-smelling soap, she pondered what the stroke on her card could mean. Maybe he'd forgotten to fill it out or couldn't find the right words. Perhaps he'd started to fill it out when he conjured it but got distracted or was called away before he could finish his message.

As she rinsed off the lather of foam, her head filled with possible solutions to the problem at hand but when she wrapped a towel around her lithe body and stepped out of the shower she froze, a small smile dancing onto her face. There, on top of the sink, lay another red rose

The identical red card attached to the stem immediately caught her attention and as she flipped it over to read it, the confusion over the first card lifted, and she realised that the puzzling stroke wasn't a stroke at all, it was the word 'I'. For in the centre of the second card, penned in black ink, was a single word – 'PROMISE'. Her insides felt giddy when she came to the realization that Remus was romantic after all. He was sending her a message via the flowers and all she had to do was find the rest of the roses. He was making her a promise for Valentine's Day.

She picked the rose up from the sink and brought it to her face to sniff as she walked back into her room, which was slightly warming thanks to the sunlight streaming in through the curtains, and placed the rose on her bed. The first rose, which had been lying on her bedside table, was immediately drawn to the new rose and a red ribbon bound them together, got to love magic. She quickly dressed in her dark blue jeans and a Weird Sisters t-shirt before sliding into her combat boots and morphing her hair into a shade of red that rivalled the roses.

She checked her reflection in the mirror for a final time before heading towards her cupboard to retrieve her ministry robes, her mind completely pre-occupied trying to figure out where the next rose was going to pop up. Her thoughts were answered, however, when she opened the cupboard door. For there, attached to her robes which were hanging on the back of the door, was another red rose.

The crimson card dislodged itself from its attachment to the stem and fluttered towards the ground, finally coming to rest on the hard wooden floor. Tonks reached forward and grabbed her robes of the hook, careful not to crush the flower, before bending down and retrieving her next clue. She turned the card over and found the familiar gold heart in the corner and in the centre was a single word penned in black ink – "THAT".

_I PROMISE THAT_ – what?

Nymphadora Tonks may have been a curious witch but she was also a rather impatient one and having to wait to reveal the message was beginning to frustrate her, even though it really was sweet. She slipped her robes over the top of her outfit before placing the rose on her bed, the red ribbon magically binding all three roses, and pocketed the three clues' in her robes.

As Tonks walked out of her bedroom door and into the hall, her mind kept repeating the three words in a sort of mantra, as though repeating them would help her puzzle it out sooner.

'I PROMISE THAT' 'I PROMISE THAT' 'I PROMISE THAT' 'I PROMISE THAT' 'I PROMISE THAT'

She was so consumed in her thoughts that she missed the start of the stairs and she let out a strangled yelp as she felt the familiar lurching sensation that she associated with falling. She prevented herself from falling all the way down the stairs by catching hold of the banister about half-way. As she sat sprawled across the stairway her attention shifted from her gingerly bruised posterior and was drawn upwards in awe at the sight before her. For there in the middle of the stairway, a single red rose floated precariously, shimmering silver droplets falling from its petals occasionally.

A gleeful grin tore across Tonks' face and the butterflies fluttered happily in her stomach as she reached forward and plucked the rose from mid-air. She continued her way down the stairs, carefully this time, and placed the rose on the banister at the base of the stairs before extricating the scarlet card. She originally thought that the card contained three black strokes III but when she brought the card closer she noticed the apostrophe and realised it was the word "I'LL"

_I PROMISE THAT I'LL_ – do the dishes? Make love to you? Cook dinner? Her heart swooned slightly and she felt a little light-headed, the smile on her face threatening to split her cheeks, as she had a final thought – Marry you?

Tonks forced herself to calm down and think logically and as she realised that there was infinite possibilities as to where the message could go from there, she felt her impatient nature take over once again. She reached down to retrieve her single rose from the banister only to realise that it'd grown into bunch. Four vibrant roses now lay nestled on the banister bound gently by a red ribbon that now had white script written upon it. She leaned closer to read it – _Remus Lupin Loves Nymphadora Tonk__s. _

She let out a soft giggle of ecstatic joy at the sweet gestures Remus was making before continuing on her way to the kitchen, leaving the roses behind. She was still hoping to persuade the message out of him at breakfast. All thoughts of seductive persuasion, however, were thrown out the window as she walked into the basement kitchen only to find the sole occupant of the room wasn't the dark haired man she'd been dreaming about but rather her cousin Sirius. He let out a grunt of laughter as he watched her look around the room.

"Lover-boy isn't here. He had an early morning meeting with Dumbledore and left a couple of minutes ago."

Tonks face fell as she walked into the kitchen towards her cousin who was nursing what looked like a powerful hangover potion.

"Don't look so bloody disappointed, he left something for you over by the bench. He charmed it so I couldn't get to it, the selfish prat."

Tonks eyes lit up and the smile returned to her face as she twisted her attention away from her grumbling cousin and headed towards the bench in question. There, lying next to a steaming mug of coffee, was another perfect rose. Tonks tentatively reached out a picked up the blossom before twisting it round to read the card. This time the word on the card made her heart jump slightly and she concluded that whatever the message was it had to be good, for the word "LOVE" had been scrawled in the center of the card.

_I PROMISE THAT I'LL LOVE_ – yep, definitely was going to be a good message.

She placed the rose back on the bench and picked up the mug of coffee. Almost instantly the other roses appeared out of thin air and bound themselves to the newest addition which caused Tonks to praise herself silently as her assumption proved correct. She took a large sip of her coffee and let out a groan of pleasure as the warm liquid made its way down her throat. Now this was love, Remus had made it exactly the way she liked it. She turned back towards Sirius only to find him intently staring at the roses on the bench, an amused expression on his face.

"Gods, Moony's turned soft in his old age, he never would have done this back in the day. But don't look so pleased with yourself, you'll be late for work if you don't hurry up."

The smug expression immediately slipped off her face as she caught sight of the time, damn he was right. The mug of steaming coffee was immediately claimed by Sirius as she slammed it onto the table and hurried back up the stairs to the door, she definitely could not be late today. She raced down the hall towards the entryway and had almost made it to the door when something caught her attention and stopped her frenetic race to work. For there, lying on her greatest adversary – the Troll Leg Umbrella Stand, lay a long-stemmed rose.

All thoughts of work were cast aside as she gently edged closer to the umbrella stand to reach her next clue. The troll leg seemed to be co-operating with her today because she was able to retrieve the rose without incident and she backed away slowly before reading the ruby card. Her heart began to beat a little faster in anticipation and when the card revealed her next clue – "YOU" – the giddy feeling returned, this message couldn't get any better.

_I PROMISE THAT I'LL LOVE YOU_ – she was silently praying that the next card said forever.

She dropped the rose on to the table by the door but she didn't have time to wait for the others to join it, so she quickly raced out the door and ran down to the alley so she could apparate to work.

As she arrived outside the building she got a little saddened by the fact that she would have to wait until after work to discover the rest of her message because Remus was a werewolf and was not allowed on ministry property. The thought dampened her spirits a little but nothing could take the smile off her face as she walked across the atrium towards the golden grilled lifts that would take her to Auror headquarters. Tonks waited whilst the lift ground towards her and when the grills opened, Tonks let out a gasp of shock as her eyes widened and her smile grew bigger. For there, floating in the middle of the lift, was a single red rose.

Tonks shook her head lightly as she stepped into the lift and as she began her ascent upwards, she reached forward to grasp the rose, only to be stopped by the other woman in the lift. The older woman looked at her before shaking her head slightly.

"I wouldn't even bother trying love, there's a charm around it and no-one can touch it. Girls have been trying to get at it all morning."

She ignored the older ladies protest and reached forward anyway. The lady gasped as Tonks grabbed hold of the rose and pulled it towards her, immediately twisting the rose so that she could read the card. In the center of the burgundy card was a single word penned in black ink – "UNTIL". Tonks shuddered slightly as she read her latest clue; surely there couldn't be a time limit on his love.

_I PROMISE THAT I'LL LOVE YOU UNTIL_ – Next month? Next year? The end of time? She hoped it was the latter.

Tonks was brought out of her pondering thoughts when the rose suddenly disappeared with a loud pop. Remus must've realised that showing up to the office with a collection of roses was not going to win her favour with the boss, he was so thoughtful sometimes. The lift ground to a halt and the misplaced voice announced that she'd arrived at her floor so she gave a fleeting smile to the still shocked woman in the lift before walking out. The woman's voice caught her attention again.

"You've got a good man there, don't let him go."

Tonks turned around to face the older lady before letting a wide smile engulf her face.

"I don't intend to."

She whirled around quickly and hurried down the hall towards her cubicle, thankfully not running into anybody on the way. The last thing she needed today was a long drawn-out assignment, she had a date tonight, and because it was Valentine's all the older Aurors would be looking to pass off assignments for the exact same reason. Tonks pushed open the door to her cubicle and immediately noticed the seven bound roses floating in the corner of her office. That wasn't the only thing that caught her eye because there, on her cluttered desk, lye yet another rose.

Tonks shook her head bemusedly as she walked over to her desk, all the while wondering how on earth Remus could have gotten into the ministry to leave all these gifts for her. She sat down in her chair and removed the cherry-coloured card from the beautiful rose. As soon as the card was free the rose zoomed off to join up with the others, the ribbon magically binding them all together. Tonks eyes flitted towards her ever-growing bunch before coming back to the card. In the center of the card was the word "THE". She quickly put all the clues together in her head.

_I PROMISE THAT I'LL LOVE YOU UNTIL THE_ – end of time? It was looking pretty good.

The rest of the day seemed to go by at a snail's pace and she had yet to find another rose, or clue, because she'd been out of the office following up investigations. But now the end of day had arrived and she had just ducked back into her office to grab her things when Kingsley's face appeared at the door of her cubicle.

"Hey Tonks, nice hair – very festive." He chuckled richly as he caught sight of the floating bunch, "Don't forget that I need the Rosier file before you go."

With a final chuckle he walked away and Tonks grudgingly walked over to the filing cabinet to retrieve the file he wanted, trust him to want the damned thing now when her shift was over. She silently fought with her filing cabinet for a little while before it finally came free and she let out a little chuckle herself when she was greeted by a single red rose nestled in between the files. Before Tonks could reach in to get the blossom, a memo zoomed into her office and stopped right in front of her. Tonks reached out and unfolded it, immediately recognising Kingsley's neat quillmanship.

Tonks,  
Don't worry about the Rosier file, I found it on my desk.  
KINGSLEY SHACKLEBOLT  
– P.S Have a good night.

Well at least that cleared up the confusion about how Remus had managed to lay gifts inside the ministry, he had an accomplice. That must've been what they were whispering about at the meeting last night. She felt a warmth flood through her veins as she contemplated the lengths that Remus had gone to, to ensure she had a good day.

She turned back the task at hand and softly extracted the rose from its resting place between her files. She gently pulled off the red card and the rose disappeared with a soft pop only to reappear in the middle of the floating bunch, then with a louder pop they all disappeared and Tonks looked around the room, perplexed as to where they had gone. When she realised they were no longer there she turned her attention back to the card and read the word out loud "LAST".

_I PROMISE THAT I'LL LOVE YOU UNTIL THE LAST_ – until the last what? Until the last day of the month? Until the last day of my life?

The last one actually sounded quite good, except of course the dying part, the idea of forever with Remus held a lot of charm. But before she could get too carried away with planning forever she decided that it was probably wiser to get the rest of the message. So she quickly changed into a white knee-length halter dress that had flowing red hearts all over it and morphed her hair a rich chocolaty brown before throwing her robes over the top. She practically ran out of the office and to the disapparation point before disappearing with a soft pop.

When she reappeared, it was in the dark alley outside Grimmauld place. She rummaged through her bag and pulled out her red-ribbon ballet flats and placed them on the ground. She slipped out of her grungy combat boots before spelling them away and stepped into her new shoes. She glanced down at herself and decided that she was more than ready for a Valentines dinner with Remus but as she headed out of the alleyway she stopped suddenly. For there, floating in mid-air at the entrance of the alley, was a red rose.

She stopped just before it and examined the perfect magical specimen before reaching out a grabbing it, her stomach aflutter with nervous butterflies. As she removed the card the rose disappeared into nothingness and she read the word on the card – "ROSE"

_I PROMISE THAT I'LL LOVE YOU UNTIL THE LAST ROSE_ – huh?

This wasn't turning out like she'd expected at all. She hurried out of the alleyway and raced towards Number 12, removing her ministry robes along the way. She opened the door and marched through the entryway, intent on finding Remus so he could explain this riddled message to her. She was just about to call out to Remus when she stopped suddenly; another red rose was floating in the air blocking her path.

She reached out tentatively towards it and grabbed the rose. Nervously she twisted it over and her heart dropped into her stomach as she read the word written neatly in black ink – "DIES".

**I PROMISE THAT I'LL LOVE YOU UNTIL THE LAST ROSE DIES!**

This time the smile completely disappeared from her face and she bit her lip in an attempt to keep the tears at bay as her whole world seemed to crumble around her. Conjured flowers only lasted for 24 hours, was this the time-limit of Remus' love? Was Remus having doubts about their relationship again? Was this his way of breaking up with her? She let the rose drop out of her fingers but instead of falling towards the ground, it bobbed silently in mid-air before gently floating away and even though Tonks heart was slowly breaking, she obediently followed the rose down the dark hallway. How could he do this to her on valentine's day? How could he do this to her period?

As she walked into the dining hall, the sight very nearly took her breath away. The walls had all been spelled red and white, there was heart balloons floating above her and little heart confetti was raining down from the ceiling and lining the floor. The table was spelled short and set up for an intimate dinner for 2, complete with long tapered candles in the middle and a bottle of champagne chilling in an ice bucket.

But perhaps the most stunning sight of all was Remus who was standing to the side of the table dressed in his best black pants and the long sleeved navy shirt that really brought out his eyes, his hair falling in the messy way that suited him. He looked scrummy and the sight cut her deeper as she realised that he'd gone to a lot of effort just to end things with her. Beside him, floating in the air, was the bunch of roses that Tonks had collected with hope throughout the day, but now they only seemed to spell out the end.

Tonks walked forwards and stood in front of Remus, silently praying for the strength to get through this, to no fall apart in front of him. He caught her completely off guard when he leaned forward and lightly kissed her on the cheek.

"Did you like your gifts?"

She looked up at him confused, why on earth would she like them? Sure the roses were perfect but the message was utterly devastating.

"The roses were lovely, but the message was a little," her voice cracked and she looked away from Remus as she felt tears fill her eyes. She desperately tried to swallow the ever-growing lump in her throat so he wouldn't notice but when she spoke it came out strangled, "confusing."

"Well that's because your gifts not finished yet."

Tonks head snapped up so fast she thought she was going to get whiplash. She tenderly raised a hand to the back of her neck as she heard Remus let out a small chuckle.

"There's," Tonks swallowed again, could this possibly get worse, "more."

Remus let out another amused chuckle as he nodded his head vigorously.

"Yes, you see it's traditional to present a woman with a dozen roses on Valentine's Day. You've only received 11 so far."

Tonks looked at the bunch of roses to his left and slowly counted them, he was right there was only 11.  
I PROMISE THAT I'LL LOVE YOU UNTIL THE LAST ROSE DIES – there wasn't a single word in the English language that would make that sentence better. Unless perhaps it was GOTCHA or JOKES and even then Tonks was sure she'd hex him to oblivion and back for putting her through that for nothing.

Tonks looked back towards Remus and saw him watching her intently before he slowly smiled as he revealed what was hidden behind his back. Her eyebrow's knitted together in confusion and she thought for sure he'd lost the plot for there, lying gently in Remus' arms, was a plush toy red rose complete with a long soft wiry stem. She looked up at Remus and had the sudden urge to laugh out loud, the situation looked so comical. Remus was standing in front of her, the picture of seriousness, whilst the toy rose had floated off to join the other real roses, sticking out something shocking as it settled in the middle of the bunch. She quelled the urge to laugh, however, and looked up at him again.

"It's a stuffed toy."

Remus let out a soft chuckle as he took in her perplexed expression before eventually giving her a much needed clue.

"It's your last rose."

Tonks continued to stare at Remus as though he lost his mind until comprehension finally dawned on her and all the clues clicked into place as she whispered the message.

"I promise to love you until the last rose dies! This is my last rose," she looked from the toy rose up to Remus' smiling face and her own smile came back full-force, "it's not real so it'll never die."

"Just like my love."

One of Tonks eyebrows rose high on her forehead and Remus blushed a soft red as he realised what he'd just said.

"My love for you is completely real, unlike the fake rose, but you were right about the end part – it'll never die."

Tonks gaze shifted to the floor as the full-force of Remus words impacted upon her, her smile widening even further. Remus' hand came up to cup her jaw as he tilted her face up towards his again, his thumb lightly stroking her cheek. He bent his face down towards hers and when his lips were mere millimetres from hers, he whispered to her.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Nymphadora!"

He gave her a crooked smile before gently pressing his lips to her own. The kiss was so soft, so honest, that the intensity of it buckled her knees and her heart swooned for the zillionth time that day. Remus must have sensed her light-headedness because he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist before pulling her closer and deepening the kiss. Tonks brought her arms up to encircle his neck before completely losing herself in the blissful moment.

The romantic dinner and all the carefully conjured roses lay forgotten as the kiss continued out of control. Later, as Tonks lie naked next to her lover in post-coital bliss she realised that all she really needed for the perfect Valentine's Day was Remus.

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This was actually how my best friend proposed to his GF on Valentine's Day. I helped him set up the roses but the idea was all his, how sweet is that. It was almost identical, except for the magic part and he used a really beautiful crystal rose instead of a stuffed one. The ring was on the stem, soooo cute.

Hate it/Love it – click the little box in the corner and leave me a review – PLEASE.

HUGZ N KISSES  
EllaQueenB


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